Learning to Walk at Night

He threaded through stacked construction barriers and fuel barrels under the elevated tracks and into a parking garage. He knew he couldn't outrun a car, so he didn't run straight. He turned with the city, listening for tire rhythm, floor slab hollows, elevator shafts that still connected, camera blind spots on the upper decks. For the first time, he treated Grayhaven like a map. That night he did not get caught. From the roof of the garage, though, he looked down at the city and saw the neon staring back. Someone had already cut the footage into clips and uploaded them to TikTok. The titles were all over the place: subway blast ghost worker, the man with the badge, the shadow in the rain. Reddit's local boards exploded.